2026-01-04 Yield to King Jesus

At the heart of this message lies one of Jesus' most challenging declarations from Luke 9:23: to follow Him, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and walk in His footsteps. This isn't a call to minor lifestyle adjustments or better time management—it's a radical summons to dethrone self and surrender completely to Christ's lordship. We discover that the greatest barrier to intimate relationship with God isn't busyness or distraction, but the quiet rebellion of self-rule that creeps into our lives. The cross Jesus calls us to carry isn't a metaphor for inconvenience; it's a death march where we publicly declare that our old way of living is finished. Like the Spanish commander who burned his ships to eliminate retreat, we're challenged to remove all exit strategies and commit fully to following Jesus. This message confronts the dangerous notion of 'cheap grace'—the idea that we can have salvation without surrender, forgiveness without obedience, Christ as Savior without Christ as Lord. True restoration begins not when life gets easier, but when Christ becomes central again. We're invited to examine specific areas where we've reclaimed the throne of our lives and to take concrete steps of obedience this week, whether that's forgiving someone, confessing sin, or saying yes to a calling we've been avoiding.